Oz Drakos: He Wants Her Back Read online

  OZ DRAKOS:

  HE WANTS HER BACK

  BY

  MALLORY MONROE

  Copyright©2020 Mallory Monroe

  All rights reserved. Any use of the materials contained in this book without the expressed written consent of the author and/or her affiliates, including scanning, uploading and downloading at file sharing and other sites, and distribution of this book by way of the Internet or any other means, is illegal and strictly prohibited.

  AUSTIN BROOK PUBLISHING

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  This novel is a work of fiction. All characters are fictitious. Any similarities to anyone living or dead are completely accidental. The specific mention of known places or venues are not meant to be exact replicas of those places, but are purposely embellished or imagined for the story’s sake. The cover art are models. They are not the actual characters.

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  OZ DRAKOS SERIES

  IN ORDER:

  1. OZ DRAKOS: LOVING MICK THE TICK’S DAUGHTER

  2. OZ DRAKOS: HE WANTS HER BACK

  MICK SINATRA SERIES

  IN ORDER:

  1.MICK SINATRA: FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE

  2.MICK SINATRA: LOVE LIES AND JERICHO

  3.MICK SINATRA: HIS LADY, HIS CHILDREN, AND SAL

  4.MICK SINATRA: IF YOU DON’T KNOW ME BY NOW

  5.MICK SINATRA: THE HARDER THEY FALL

  6.MICK SINATRA: NOW WILL YOU WEEP

  7.MICK SINATRA: BREAKING MY HEART

  8.MICK SINATRA: LOVE AND SHADOWS

  9.MICK SINATRA: NO LOVE. NO PEACE.

  10.MICK SINATRA: HEAT WAVE

  11. MICK SINATRA: NOT IN MY HOUSE

  12. MICK SINATRA: ICE COLD LOVE

  13. MICK SINATRA: NEEDING HER AGAIN

  STANDALONE

  LITERARY FICTION NOVEL:

  MAEBELLE MARIE

  BY

  MALLORY MONROE

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  EPILOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  Gloria Sinatra woke up in Oz’s bed. That wasn’t unusual. She spent the night at his place almost as much as she stayed at her own place. But more times than she cared to admit, it was equally not unusual for her to wake up in his bed alone.

  And she didn’t wake up alone because it was 7 a.m. and he had already gone to work. It was 3 a.m. and he’d hadn’t come home yet. Which astounded her when she looked at the clock on the wall. 3 a.m. . She didn’t ask to get together with him. Their get together was his idea and he still hadn’t made it home?

  She turned onto her back and looked up at the big beautiful ceiling in his big beautiful bedroom. Everything about Oz was big and beautiful. From his big personality that everybody gravitated to, all the way to his big, beautiful self. Oz was the man. And he knew it. The ladies knew it too. That was the problem.

  She threw the coverings back and sat up on the side of the bed. She had been in Philly, visiting her family, when Oz insisted that as soon as she hit town she was to come straight to his place for dinner. He sent his private plane to pick her up in Philly, something he always did, but she usually went to her own home first, showered and changed, and then drove over to The Drakos where Oz lived. Which she insisted on doing again last night, just in case he pulled his usual Oz on her and she needed her own wheels to get away.

  But she was hopeful when she arrived back in town. They were supposed to have dinner together at eight p.m. sharp, he said, and he was going to be the chef for the evening. Gloria was so excited when she arrived at his apartment that it felt like a new beginning to her. It felt as if they could finally turn a page in their super-slow-moving relationship and get on with the business of building a life together. Which was what she dearly wanted. But all it turned out to be was more of the same.

  She kept her end of the bargain though. She was at his place before eight last night. But although Oz lived at his brother Alex’s hotel, and he worked downstairs in the casino he co-owned with his brother, he declared he couldn’t get away at eight. But he told her to stay put at his place and he promised to be home by eleven. Then he said he couldn’t get away again, but he’d be home for certain by midnight. Now it was three a.m. and he still hadn’t made it home. He still hadn’t been able to break away downstairs to make it those few feet upstairs to his waiting woman. It felt criminal to Gloria.

  But not criminal on Oz’s part. Oh no! Oz was just being Oz. He was that same way when she met him, and he remained that way today. But it was criminal, to Gloria, on her part. She was allowing it. When he said he couldn’t make it upstairs at eight because of some fight in the casino or whatever reason he gave, she should have said okay, I’ll see you another time. But she didn’t. She stayed. She stayed when he promised to be home by eleven and didn’t show too. She stayed when he promised to be home by midnight and still wasn’t. That was on her. That was the criminal part. She stayed because he knew she would, and that was why he still wasn’t home. And she had nobody to blame but herself.

  She got out of bed, put back on her clothes, grabbed her keys and her phone, and made her way downstairs. He could come home any time he pleased now, with no obligations the way he liked it. Glo was gone.

  “Have a good rest of your morning, Miss Gloria,” said the elevator attendant as she stepped off into the lobby downstairs.

  “Thanks, Herb,” she responded. She was well-known to The Drakos workers, hotel and casino alike. In her face, they called her Miss Gloria. Behind her back, they called her Oz’s Girl. Like she was a thing, not a person. Like she belonged to him. But did he ever belong to her?

  When she stepped off of the elevator, she made her way toward the revolving exit doors inside the hotel’s lobby. But then she heard loud laughter coming from the casino, where one of the entrances was just off from the hotel’s lobby. She wondered what was so funny. Was it Oz? She didn’t plan on stopping anywhere near that casino, she was just that upset with him, but she went over to the entrance anyway, and looked in. And she was right. It was Oz.

  The casino was still crowded for that time of morning, and was lively still too. Oz Drakos was over near the blackjack tables, with a crowd of men around him. And they were all laughing at some tall tale he was undoubtedly telling them, usually about his escapade
s when he still lived in Greece, and they were just soaking it up.

  Gloria stared at Oz. Although he was in a sea of people, he was hard to miss. At six-three and with his muscular frame and his long, thick hair, he stood head-and-shoulders above most men. But not just in his physique did he stand above the rest. It was in his outsized personality. People gravitated to him like a moth to a flame. They just did. And Gloria accepted that fact even before they hooked up. She knew he had the kind of personality that wasn’t going to allow him to be at her beck and call twenty-four-seven. She knew that. She didn’t even want that. But to have to share him with the world far more times than she got to be with him? That she didn’t count on. Like not at all.

  But there was Oz, she thought as she stared at him. There was the man she loved. He was laughing with some guys he probably just met, but was treating them as if they were his buddies from way back. He treated strangers very well. And there were the ladies, too, lurking near the back of the crowd, staring at Oz’s physique, especially that bundle between his legs, as if they were staring at a meal on a desert island. As if they were calculating in their minds just how in the world were they going to get their hooks in that side of beef.

  The energy in that whole casino couldn’t compare to Oz’s energy in that one space in the back. But Gloria? She was tired. And saddened. Because he had all of that energy, and all of that time to laugh it up with strangers, while she had been alone upstairs waiting for him to give her some of that energy, and to give her some of his time and attention. And it felt pathetic to her.

  That was why she didn’t go over to him and make a scene. She didn’t make scenes with men. They treated her like an afterthought all her life. And she allowed that treatment all her life.

  She’d look like a fool objecting now.

  She left. Even as Oz finally looked over and saw that she was standing there, and now leaving, but she kept going.

  But it wasn’t a clean getaway. She had only just gotten outside of the lobby, under the portico as the valet, who knew her, too, hurried to retrieve her car, when Oz swept out, big personality and all, and came out calling her name.

  “Glo? Glo? Gloria!”

  She didn’t even want to turn around as she stood at the curb. Why was he even out there, she wondered. Why didn’t he just let her leave with some dignity for once? But he was walking toward her. He was right behind her.

  And when he turned her around, what he saw caused him to stop in his tracks. Because he didn’t see a woman fed up with his forgetful-that-bordered-on-neglectful ways. He saw a woman in pain. Pain was in her big, lovely eyes. And it stumped him. “Glo, what’s wrong?”

  What was wrong? No he didn’t ask her that! But she maintained her cool by not answering him. By not playing his game the way he wanted to play it. She turned back around.

  The valets that stood around the valet station smiled when she turned around. They weren’t used to any woman dissing Oz Drakos!

  But Oz, being Oz, turned her back around to face him again. “What’s wrong?” he asked her again, his face sincere with confusion, and he wasn’t going to take silence for an answer.

  And Gloria had had it. How could he not know what was wrong? Her frustration showed in the tone of her voice. “What do you want from me, Oz?” she asked him.

  Oz didn’t seem to understand that question either. Although he still had that slight Greek accent, his English was impeccable. It was the reason behind the question that was stumping him. “Excuse me?” he asked her.

  “What do you want?” Gloria asked again. “I’ve been waiting upstairs for you since eight last night.”

  “And I told you I couldn’t get away that early. The casino---”

  “What do you want?” She was tired of his excuses.

  “I want you,” Oz responded. “What do you mean what do I want? That’s what I want. I want you.”

  Gloria shook her head with eyes filled with doubt.

  Oz was stumped again, his face frowned. “What?” he asked her. “I want you. What’s so weird about that?”

  “Weird? There’s nothing weird about that. There’s nothing true about that either,” Gloria added, and then turned back around.

  He tried to grab her arm again, but she jerked away from him and headed for her car as the valet drove up.

  Oz stood there. What was her problem, he wondered? Why could they never seem to be on the same page? But as she rounded her car and was about to get inside of it, that odd feeling only she made him feel came rushing back. It felt as if his heart was about to leave with her. As if she was his heart. And without thinking, and as she got in under the steering wheel of her car, he got in too, on the passenger seat.

  Gloria, surprised, looked at him. “Oz! Where are you going?”

  “Wherever you’re going.”

  “I’m going home!”

  “Then why are you sitting him yapping about it? Let’s go,” Oz said, and closed the passenger door.

  Gloria didn’t understand why he didn’t just give up on their relationship too. Didn’t he see that they weren’t ever going to make it? She saw it long ago, but kept trying to hold on. Kept hoping and praying that he’d finally change. But if what happened since eight last night didn’t convince her that she was living in a fool’s paradise, nothing could. Why didn’t he see it too?

  “Why can’t you see,” she started saying. She was just about to ask him that very question.

  But as if he knew what she was about to ask, Oz cut her off. “Let’s go,” he said with a little irritation in his own voice. “Just drive, okay?”

  Gloria stared at him, and then shook her head. She loved him, even though it was a hopeless love. But because she loved him and hated when they parted on bad terms, she put her car in gear, and drove off. She was going home.

  CHAPTER TWO

  She lived in a modest three-bedroom home in the suburbs. She had a mortgage, but she got that mortgage on her own. No help from her rich father. No help from her wealthy boyfriend. And she aimed to keep it that way. Oz called it the Little House on the Prairie, which, to Gloria, showed how little he knew about that TV show. Her big brother Teddy, who also happened to be her best friend, called it quaint and cute. She called it home.

  When she parked in her two-car garage and they made it inside her home, she headed for her master bedroom in the back, while Oz headed for the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and began searching inside. “Where’s the liquor?” he asked. “Don’t you have any liquor around here?”

  “No,” Gloria said from the back of the house.

  “Whatta you mean no?” Oz asked and closed the refrigerator door. He still had that need to party riding with him big time. He figured a shot of whiskey or bourbon or whatever would help bring him back down. “Glo?” He began heading for the backroom.

  “Whatta you mean no?” he asked as he made it to the entrance of the master bedroom.

  “I don’t stock up on liquor,” Gloria responded to him.

  But when he saw her standing there and taking off the last of her clothing, which was her panties, he froze in place. That body was going to be the death of him yet, he thought.

  But Gloria wasn’t giving his lustful look even a glance. She pulled her bedcovers back and got into bed. She had a business to run, and usually tried to get to the diner, to help with the breakfast crowd, by nine at the latest. She needed to get some sleep.

  But the damage had already been done. Oz was hard as a rock just from that quick look at her naked body. And the boy had to have it.

  He walked further into the room and began taking off all of his clothing too. He was naked in seconds. Gloria wasn’t so thrown that she didn’t see him removing clothing. She wasn’t so in need of rest that she didn’t see his big, thick penis standing at attention right before her very eyes. That penis inside of her would have been a fantastic end to the evening had he shown up at eight like he was supposed to show up and cooked her dinner and treated her, not like some aftert
hought, but at least like somebody dear to him. But that was a fairytale ending in their world. That seemed like an elusive dream for her and Oz.

  But Oz wasn’t trying to dream. He just wanted to get inside of Gloria and to feel that warmth he always felt all those other times she let him in.

  But as soon as he was fully undressed and had walked around to the backside of the bed about to climb in behind her, she turned and looked at him. “What are you doing?” she asked him.

  Oz grinned. “Exactly what you think. I’m getting in bed. With you.”

  “Not before you take a shower, you aren’t,” Gloria said.

  “You didn’t take a shower,” Oz shot back like some kid.

  “I did shower, for your information. I took one before I left home.”

  “So did I!”

  “And,” Gloria added, “I took one before I got into your bed after midnight this morning. Hit the shower or sleep on the couch. Your choice.”

  Oz still had a buzz from the night. The last thing he felt like doing was showering. But Gloria didn’t play. When she said the couch or the shower, he knew she meant it. He also knew he wasn’t about to sleep on any couch. Not with all she had to offer between those sheets.

  He hit the shower. But even as he stepped in and allowed that warm water to drench his tired body, he couldn’t stop grumbling. He could have any woman he wanted. Women who wouldn’t give a damn that he’d been in that casino all day and night and needed to bathe it off. They’d be thrilled just to be with him. Why, then, was he taking her shit?

  And the way he had to run behind her at The Drakos. That was not a good look for him. His reputation was going to be shot to hell if he kept that up, as if he, the great Oz Drakos, was Gloria Sinatra’s lap dog! Or boy toy. Or whatever his staff probably was laughing and calling him. Why would he put himself through this?

  The same reason, he knew, that he still wanted her even after she rejected his advances the first time they met. The same reason he stayed with her when he found out she was the daughter of mobster Mick Sinatra. It wasn’t her big, beautiful eyes. Or her luscious lips. Or her slamming body. It was her. She never made it easy for him. She made him work to be with her. She was like that line in the movie Arthur, when Lisa Minelli, a shoplifter, wanted to be with Dudley Moore, a rich boy. But Dudley’s butler, the actor John Gielgud, told Lisa she couldn’t shoplift her way into Dudley’s heart. “This is a tie that you cannot steal,” he said to her.